Other Flash Player

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Well I'm looking around for an inexpensive mp3 player that can use sd/mmc cards
so far the RCA Lyra RD2012 seems to suit my needs.

I was just curious to see what other people are using these days. If you can give me a good aurgement why I should look into a hard drive based player please do, but I really like the idea of beeing able to have an expandable storage such as sd/mmc. It reminds me of making mixed tapes except these are mixed "flash memory"

I owned a rio sport, and the quality was pretty top notch. Not much memory on board, but it had a slot for sd/mmc cards. The new ones are not much different, just more memory. I liked the quality of the overall package better than the rca than you are looking at. The newer ones use microdrives, they seem to perform better, and have a better memory size to dollar ratio than the flash based units. If I was going to get a new one,(as my g/f lost my rio) I'd probably get a RIO Carbon. They are super nice, smaller than the Ipod mini, and hold just as much music. They are less expensive too.

I picked up a pair of Rio Sports on eBay for $80-90 shipped. I got them last week, and so far have been really pleased with the quality of the product and the sound. The ones I got (for me and Katie) only have 64MB on board, but the SD/MMC slot supports up to a 1GB card. Considering that a 1GB SD card is only about $70 now, you could have just over a gig of storage on a tiny solid-state MP3 player for $100 straight up. The tuner is there too (not the best), and Rio's web site still had updated firmware support for it.

I picked up a pair of Rio Sports on eBay for $80-90 shipped. I got them last week, and so far have been really pleased with the quality of the product and the sound. The ones I got (for me and Katie) only have 64MB on board, but the SD/MMC slot supports up to a 1GB card. Considering that a 1GB SD card is only about $70 now, you could have just over a gig of storage on a tiny solid-state MP3 player for $100 straight up. The tuner is there too (not the best), and Rio's web site still had updated firmware support for it.

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One thing I forgot to mention about it: it ate AAA batteries like a mofo. One a day for me. I had the s30s - the one you mentioned, and I might get one similar to it again, but in my mind, I am considering the Carbon. Better deal for the dollar.
Invest in rechargeables while you can, mike

Originally posted by MikeBergy@Feb 8 2005, 12:44 AMOne thing I forgot to mention about it: it ate AAA batteries like a mofo. One a day for me. I had the s30s - the one you mentioned, and I might get one similar to it again, but in my mind, I am considering the Carbon. Better deal for the dollar.
Invest in rechargeables while you can, mike

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Wow- ours take quite a few days to run through AAA batteries... but I'm in the process of ordering some more rechargeables, so it won't be a problem. If it's one per day, it's no big deal- just throw them in the charger for an hour and you're ready to go again.

The Carbon is definitely better, but we just wanted something cheap that would work well for working out and sweating/banging all over the place. I don't want to take a more expensive MP3 player on a run in the rain.

I just got the Creative MuVo TXFM in 256. They also sell one in the gig for $200.

The unit is awesome. The flash pendrive is why I bought it (Plus, I don't need to "carry" gigs upon gigs of songs). I use it to listen to my satellite radio too (FM tuner built in is actually very robust). It has a 5 band EQ, is easy to operate and has a very logical menu layout. The display inverts for either kind of carry.

I bought it to use the pendrive as well for work. So I walk around with my 12 songs for the day, and loads of utility apps / boot disks to do my IT work.

Comes in colors as well. Check out the accessories at Creative.com

-> Steve

Also, my gf has the Lyra multimedia player. The battery life is dismal, and the OS is the worst. the Creative has gone so far, about 20 hours and shows no sign of weakening battery from it's single AAA.

256MB is a very small amout of room for me, I'm interested in having at least 5CD's worth of mp3's avaliable at all times. doesn't have to be in the player but on SD cards that I can add whenever. A guy I work with has a lyra and I've looked at it. even tho you can't really search thru a directory structure that's not really a problem, listening to sequential stuff is fine for me.

If I was after being able to browse and find something to listen to very easily I'd go for the Ipod or Creative Zen series. or the Rio Carbon.
But I Just want something that's cheap and can take it along for bike rides etc bring to work and play thu my stero etc..

Im my opinion, flash mp3 players are a waste of money. Just spend twice as much and get an ipod. For $300 you get 20 gig. I can't believe that you guys can stand haveing only 256mb of space, I have over 40 gig of music on my computer and counting and there is no way I would spend 10 min every day puting different music on my mp3 player. But...thats just me

Do you think I would be better off buying a model that has less built in memory for a cheper price and just use the SD cards I have ??

I've already have a battery charger as my digital camera eats batteries for lunch. Next on my list is a mutliformat card reader

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Yeah, that's what I did- just 64MB on the player. SD cards are cheap, and you can carry a ton of them in your wallet too. Just change them in/out of the player like you do with CDs and a Discman.

Card readers are pretty cheap. If you want a nice portable one, get a PQI brand reader- it folds up into a cassette case, and reads every media format out there for about $20. I also have one in my tower that sits in a floppy drive bay- it cost about $20 too.

Originally posted by ktanaka@Feb 8 2005, 12:56 PMIm my opinion, flash mp3 players are a waste of money. Just spend twice as much and get an ipod. For $300 you get 20 gig. I can't believe that you guys can stand haveing only 256mb of space, I have over 40 gig of music on my computer and counting and there is no way I would spend 10 min every day puting different music on my mp3 player. But...thats just me

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Nah. I wouldn't want to take a nice $300 iPod out running or somewhere that I might drop it or get it wet. I have an iPod on the way, but the flash player will still be used for as a "go ahead and beat it up" kind of player. All I have to do it start a 2 minute copy operation before I put on my shoes and I'm ready for up to 2 hours of workout time, and I don't have to worry about breaking the player if something goes wrong. I'll use the iPod for travel and long commutes.

CRX-YEM@Feb 8 2005, 01:28 PM^ actually you're talking more like 3.75x the cost of a flash mp3 player for 20GB

the flash player I'm looking at is only $79

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Mine was $35, and I'm just using the SD card from my Palm. I don't ever put anything monstrous on the PDA anyway, and I don't use any cards except my 16MB backup card.

Originally posted by CRX-YEM@Feb 8 2005, 10:56 AMDoes that creative player use expandable media like SD cards ??

256MB is a very small amout of room for me, I'm interested in having at least 5CD's worth of mp3's avaliable at all times. doesn't have to be in the player but on SD cards that I can add whenever. A guy I work with has a lyra and I've looked at it. even tho you can't really search thru a directory structure that's not really a problem, listening to sequential stuff is fine for me.

If I was after being able to browse and find something to listen to very easily I'd go for the Ipod or Creative Zen series. or the Rio Carbon.
But I Just want something that's cheap and can take it along for bike rides etc bring to work and play thu my stero etc..

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If you are looking for something cheap and portable, why not just get a mp3 cd player? I picked up one for 13 big ones new (the RioVolt), and every mp3 cd I burn has like 14 hours worth of music. It's slightly bulkier, and if you are really lookng to get something that is small, I'd recommend the smaller flash players, but other than that, you can't beat 25 cents for a burned mp3 cd.

Originally posted by MikeBergy@Feb 8 2005, 04:49 PM
If you are looking for something cheap and portable, why not just get a mp3 cd player? I picked up one for 13 big ones new (the RioVolt), and every mp3 cd I burn has like 14 hours worth of music. It's slightly bulkier, and if you are really lookng to get something that is small, I'd recommend the smaller flash players, but other than that, you can't beat 25 cents for a burned mp3 cd.

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I've thought about it, but it's way easier to carry a small SD card vs CD's

its small and doesnt have much memory (only 64mb) BUT it does have the SD/MMC expansion card slot in it. the sound is good and the options on it are excellent. i paid $60 for it at Wal-Mart plus another $59 for a 512mb SD/MMC card at Best Buy. i spent less than i would if i bought an mp3 player with only 256mb of memory. i got a good deal IMO and an awesome mp3 player.